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IPhone -Update: All FreedomVOICE Wants for Christmas is the App Store to Accept Newber!

December 11, 2008

Update: All FreedomVOICE Wants for Christmas is the App Store to Accept Newber!

By Jessica Kostek

TMCnet Channel Editor

“What the heck is a Newber,” you may be asking yourself? Back in September, TMC’s (News - Alert) Michael Dinan reported on a beta version FreedomVOICE Systems was releasing called Newber.

He explains the application, “delivers an independent number that can be assigned to any phone, a feature that spares the caller the task of dialing multiple numbers for mobile, home and work. Newber Beta also allows a person to take business calls on their private phone without giving out personal information.”

FreedomVOICE, CEO, Eric Thomas was quoted about the same time saying “Newber Beta is the first moveable number that utilizes iPhone’s (News - Alert) own location awareness. Just touch the keypad once or twice and Newber calls are automatically moved to the nearest landline. It’s that easy.”

Mr. Thomas continued saying, “Other so-called moveable numbers need a computer or require clumsy commands to switch phones. Since Newber Beta uses iPhone’s own GPS system to connect to nearby phones, it is the first moveable number that’s practical and convenient.”

Impressive, and by the sound of it FreedomeVOICE can’t be more excited; except for the little rain cloud Apple (News - Alert) is now casting by taking forever and a day to accept the application into their App Store. At the time this story went live, the counter was clocked in at 70 days.

Apple’s Steve Jobs has stated that the App Store will be “the best deal going to distribute applications to mobile platforms," but what if a great business application cannot get approved?

Chris Nikkel, Director of Research and Development for FreedomVOICE Systems told TMCnet, “I think that Apple is a wonderful company and they have done a wonderful job with their iPhone. It’s a little frustrating that we’ve had to wait so long to see our app get through the release process with Apple.”

He continued by saying, “We went through the standard application process with Apple, and it was actually at the time that I think Apple was having some trouble because a lot of developers were complaining that their app was delayed. So, we waited and we were very patient and it wasn’t until almost two months later that we starting following up by calling Apple’s troubleshooting line and trying to contact them and see what the delay was.”

At present it has been over two weeks of FreedomVOICE contacting Apple and Nikkel says, “We haven’t gotten a clear answer on what we can do to help them move the process forward. So we feel like we’re stuck.”

Nikkel confirmed that although FreedomVOICE Systems have their little hearts set on Apple deploying their application, they are also looking at other platforms such as BlackBerry (News - Alert) or “any other platform that pops up that has market share and has a promising platform.” FreedomVOICE Systems has, “also looking at Android (News - Alert) and others so we’re keeping our eyes open on where we can best leverage our product.”

Mr. Nikkel came up with the idea of Newber and lead developers in writing the code. His inspiration? “Steve Jobs’ speech and [the fact that] they developed a device that truly makes this possible and [our product] is definitely a perfect fit for the iPhone platform.

Rebuttal Mr. Jobs? Either way, Apple shouldn’t take as long as they have in accepting applications. The point of the Apple App Store was to help and reduce stress, not add to it.